I stayed in the department rather late, even though after a short day of teaching I wanted to get out early … alas!
Julie visited my class today to hand out some surveys; it seems Melissa was a student of hers last spring. Everybody (not counting RJ and Lauren, who, along with one of my two Heidis, have dropped, I think) was there today, so after Julie left we did some grammar review, the quiz, and then took care of “administrative” things, in particular 1) splitting into 4-person groups for the group projects later and 2) exchanging essays for the peer-review aspect of the 1st essay. The bell rang, I collected homework, I advised Chris on some study-abroad matters, I ran into Prof. Steakley at the elevator, and I returned to my office, which remained rather quiet and empty once Kristi[e|i]n left.
Hans was in this afternoon, so I shut my office door so as not to draw attention to myself. He left and Sabine showed up, but we didn’t chat. It appears that Mark L. will be running the Freiburg program next year.
When I left late in the afternoon it was about 4 degrees outside, and the walk over and down Bascom hill, buffeted by wind off of the lake, was chilly and painful, but the brisk pace of my walk helped. I felt the tips of my ears turning to pink rubbery ice, so just walked faster. Once on State Street matters improved slightly, for the street is a tube, and since the wind generally blows perpendicular to the direction of the street the buildings offer a measure of protection from the elements.
I arrived at my destination and ordered a tall dark roast from the only attractive barista at Fair Trade and then chatted for a bit, cliche enough, about the weather. I could not see from my glasses, and they took minutes to de-fog. I took a table, but nothing along the wall was available, so I ran the iBook from battery power.
The other day I was stupid enough to return home and forget to plug it in properly so that I ran the battery down, even though it appeared plugged in and charging.
I took care of some file organizing and writing (and deleted a dozen comics by accident … a mistake in my bash script!), and shortly before I planned on leaving I discovered that Helena was sitting to my left, behind me, against the wall, so we chatted for a bit before she hurried out to catch the 28 home.
Ten minutes later I packed things up and headed across the street to wait for the four.
I am returning this evening to the Rex-Goliath Giant 47lb. Rooster that I bought yesterday at Woodman’s based on its cool-ass label. A drinkable Zinfandel; it gets better the longer it breathes. At $5.99 a bottle I can recommend it as a cheap wine — a bit of bite, not too dry, a little fruity, but not terribly complex.
I considered returning to Something Rotten this evening (currently a bit past page 100), but I think that after writing a little more I’ll catch up on Battlestar Galactica and other things.
Salon‘s peak was — if it ever had one — in the late 90s, before it became unbearably gentrified and whiny, but from time to time it manages good stories and guest articles. VERY worth reading for those of us in or from Wisconsin — FUCK, for any U.S. citizen — is “Symbol of a timid Congress: Why I oppose the Warner-Levin compromise resolution on the Iraq war” by Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. There are few politicians living today whom I respect as statesmen (regardless of sex/gender) … Russ is one. Give me enough wine and I’ll profess my love.
So I sit here, shortly past 9pm, midway through “E,” and most of the way through Electric Light Orchestra (only a dozen-plus songs to go before I make it to Elis Regina, to whom I was introduced by the extremely dear and sincere Juliana back in Marbach, summer of 2003. Thereafter follow nearly 60 songs by Elton John, so I’d better enjoy the respite while I can.
I got Thelonious Monk’s “5 x Monk x 5” this afternoon (remastered). When it comes to classical I need to make a trip to the Exclusive Company (State Street) — to the basement, that is. The old guy — very much a character out of Borges — who ran it is long dead, I believe, but they should still have the best classical inventory not only in town but damn near in the whole Midwest. I want C. Franck’s famous violin sonata.
Back in 1996 when I was her TA for ID 1 (the freshman seminar) Laura Skoczylas gave me a cassette recording from her short-term German host family, which had had an “original instrument” Baroque ensemble going, and there was copious flute music on the cassette. I had Phoebe Harvey attempt to identify some of it for me; the jacket had no index. One of the things I recognized was a flute version of Franck’s sonata — it was still eerily beautiful and haunting played by a different instrument, though modern enough that it defied attempts at just giving yourself to it the way you can with many Romantic works.
It is one of the few classical works I had on cassette that I never replicated on CD, and thus not on mp3 or ogg. The CDs at the Exclusive Company won’t disappear (there is likely a cheap NAXOS edition to be had), so there is no rush.
